The macronutrient and humic acid connection: Boosting growth in cereal-pulse intercropping

The research study detailing the effect of the recommended dose of fertilizers supplied along with humic acid at varied levels on the growth of fodder maize (African Tall) and fodder cowpea (CO 9) based intercropping was carried out at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam during summer season (March-May) of 2021. The experiments contains contain 12 treatment combinations laid down with Randomized Block Design (RBD) having three replications. Experimental results concluded that the application of 125% RDF along with enriched farmyard manure and humic acid @ 20 kg ha⁻¹ and foliar spray of 1.0% Urea + 0.5% CaCl₂ (T₈) under fodder maize and fodder cowpea intercropping recorded more plant height (237.4 & 181.4 cm), number of leaves per plant in fodder maize (16.3), branches per plant in fodder cowpea (23.3), dry matter production (71.4 & 47.06 g/plant) at harvest stage which was followed by application of 100% RDF along with enriched FYM and HA @ 20 kg ha^-1 and foliar spray of 1.0% Urea + 0.5% CaCl₂ (T₇) when compared with control treatments (T₁₂).